Extended Classic: Cosmic Queries: General Astrophysics 101

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About This Episode

Now extended with 12 minutes of Neil, Bill Nye and Steven Soter swapping their personal Carl Sagan stories in the “Cosmic Crib.”

Curious about general astrophysics? Then join us for class this week as Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson and teaching assistant Leighann Lord explain some of the basics. Discover why everything in the universe spins (and how you can test the theory of Conservation of Angular Momentum with a plate of spaghetti), how the gravity from a black hole can affect light even though light has no mass, and why we can be so sure that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. You’ll learn about dark matter and dark energy, the difference between weight and mass in planetary measurement, and why our galaxy isn’t expanding even though our universe is. Find out how we know that our solar system was formed as the result of a super nova, and whether a planet could orbit 4 suns. Plus, Neil trash talks Edwin Hubble and explains how NASCAR cars can steer in a straight line without crashing on a curved track.